When it Rains

...make a pinecone bird feeder.

March has been a wet and sick month. I feel like it's been raining forever! Sure we get one good month of rain per year in this area, while many other parts of the country get much soggier. But it still seems like it's never going to end.

And with the bad weather came the under the weather. Seriously, someone in this household has been sick for the past 25 days. We've all taken turns, multiple turns. It feels like it's never going to end.

So during this season of hibernation, we have tried to keep ourselves busy with inside activities. Low key, keep-from-going-crazy activities.

One such activity is looking out the window. We spend a lot of time parked in front of a pane, watching things happen. Mostly we see garbage trucks and mailmen coming and going. Yard maintenance and repairmen making their stops. Even the occasional neighbor braving the rain to walk their dog.

And then there's the pinecone bird feeder. Owen found an awesome pinecone which we slathered with peanut butter and rolled in bird seed. Initially we put it close to the ground and sat back to watch. No birds all day. But the next day it was cleaned off. Not a speck of butter or seed. Must be the rain, we thought. So we made another and hung it from a small branch. Next day it looked touched but still no sight of any birds. Then a few days later there was a break in the rain and we caught this on camera:


We watched proudly as our bird feeder was doing its job.

Then the next thing we knew the bird had flown off only to be replaced with this:

That daredevil squirrel was hanging by his toes to reach the snack! Hungry? Yes. Impressive? Double yes.

In the days since then we've seen the occasional bird stop by, but mostly it's that gutty squirrel who's has been licking the pinecone clean.

Como Se Dice "Chubby"

I was doing some grocery shopping in Trader Joes a few days ago with Gavin. While in the dairy section I stopped to inspect some eggs and noticed two older Hispanic ladies looking at Gavin and smiling. One mumbled to the other in Spanish and they both giggled. Then she pointed toward Gavin and said, "gordito". The other nodded and agreed, "Ah, gordito." Then they smiled and spoke a few more words (in Spanish) before giving him a wink and heading down the next aisle.

I could tell they were enamored by him, so I was amused. I just wasn't sure what it was about him that made them stop and take special notice. In my mind he's not the chubby baby he used to be. Maybe it was the bag of snacks in his lap I had given him to keep him happy. Or maybe it was his round cheeks, chomping on the bits of snacks. Or perhaps it was the cart buckle that I strapped tightly around his middle (causing his belly to hang out). Come to think of it, he did look a little bit like a toad sitting there in the cart.

No matter. I like gorditos.




*By the way, I was in Joes again this evening with both Owen and Gavin. Have you noticed evening shoppers are not nearly as pleasant as morning shoppers? Sure I would be a little put off by a couple of boys that are bouncing around the aisles. But sheesh, I was the one who had to do the shopping with them.

Four Eyes No More

Gone are the days of waking up and reaching for my glasses in the morning. I still do it sometimes out of habit, but these old lenses are now obsolete. They will be making their way to Thailand (by way of an Eagle Scout project) for others to use.

My contact lenses and solution no longer take up space in my bathroom drawer. They were nice while they lasted. But come allergy season, they were sandpaper on my eyeballs. Pure torture.

I finally bit the bullet and had LASIK done about a month ago. It was the best surgery I've ever had...hands-down. And I couldn't be happier with the results. In fact, I went to a followup appointment and learned that my vision is even better than 20/20. Amazing. Life-changing.

Farewell to you, eyewear.